A common method of coating household or industrial gloves is by flocking, or blowing natural cotton or synthetic fibers by using air or static discharge, onto a thickened dipped adhesive layer of polymer latex bonded to a first layer of another polymer latex gel. Other methods include mounting former-shaped woven fabric onto metal or ceramic formers and dipping polymer latex onto the woven-fabric layer. Unfortunately, these fibers are completely bonded along their entire length and are not free to absorb sweat.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,098,755 to Bath et al. discloses coated rubber articles and method of producing the same. A flock layer is deposited by any suitable method, such as blowing or electrostatic deposition on the pre-polymer polyurethane coating prior to curing. The flock is impinged onto the pre-polymer polyurethane coating in such a way that mixing of the flock fibers with the polymer coating or embedding or full penetration of the fibers in the polymer coating is avoided. Thus, while the fibers may be oriented normal to the coating surface, or oriented in a different fashion, only the surface portion of the coating engages the fibers.
A modification of the flocking technique is described in GB Patent No. 1,102,342, which includes a non-dipping process for manufacture of elongated binder particles of polymeric materials. The process is performed by adding natural or synthetic fibers into a dispersion of polymeric materials, freezing the aqueous dispersion of the polymeric material, and thawing the frozen dispersion to obtain particles of the polymeric material. The particles of polymeric material then bind the natural or synthetic fibers together against a porous surface when suction is applied. The porous surface is a papermaking screen and the fibrous web formed is then pressed and calendared.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,143,416 to Brindle et al. discloses polyurethane thin-walled articles with a rough surface, and method of producing the same. The thin walled article is a surgical glove. The glove includes a first elastomer layer of polyurethane formed by dip coating using a rough-surfaced former to provide outer surface grip for the glove. There are no fibers on the skin-contacting surface of the surgical glove.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,524 to Wu et al. discloses cut resistant polymeric films. This cut resistant polymeric comprises a central polymeric matrix dispersed with a plurality of cut resistant fibers including glass fibers, steel fibers, aramid fibers, polyethylene fibers, particle filled polymeric fibers. The inner and outer layers of the medical or industrial glove article do not contain any cut resistant fibers. The fibers used are not moisture absorbing fibers and they are entirely contained in the middle layer and any exposure to these fibers can irritate or cut skin on contact.
GB 1091523 to Haughton discloses composite flock-coated mats. The steps of the method include: coating the surface of a flexible base sheet with a curable natural or synthetic rubber latex adhesive, electrostatically depositing flock on the adhesive, drying the adhesive with flock, placing the flock-coated section on an electrically-heated vacuum mold and applying vacuum so that the section is drawn into position, curing the base sheet and adhesive with flock. The flock is only attached to the surface of the adhesive coating. A flock-coated section may be attached to a molded mat. This mat with flock is not a flexible latex article such as a glove.
Published U.S. Patent No. 20050136236 to Hassan et al. discloses polymer composite fibrous coating on dipped rubber articles and method. The invention provides an elastomeric article having a first layer comprising a natural or synthetic polymer; and a second layer bonded to the first layer that comprises a polymer composite fibrous coating. The polymer composite fibrous coating includes at least one elastomer or elastomer blend, a fiber or fiber blend, a surfactant, and a micronized wax. The coating can be foamed, and provides improved sweat management and non-shredding properties to a user. There is no reference to the depth of penetration of fibers in the fibrous coating and there is no indication that these fibers are retained when wet or the glove with composite fibrous coating is washable.
It is common for a wearer of industrial or household gloves to experience excessive sweat soaking. Thus, industrial or household gloves are typically less comfortable when worn for longer periods of time especially when currently available unflocked bare gloves are used. To combat this sweating problem, flock-lined gloves are in the market. Although flock-lined gloves provide better surface comfort than unflocked gloves, the sweat absorption by and evaporation from this type of glove is still relatively poor since the flock lining is flat against the latex surface. Additionally, flock coverage is sometimes inconsistent in conventional flock linings.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a latex glove article with a skin contacting surface that has a fibrous lining or coating, which is not completely flattened against the latex surface and is firmly attached to the latex surface thereby cooling the user's hand through evaporation. The fibrous coating is able to absorb and retain the moisture while evaporation cools the wearer's hand while at the same time the hand is kept dry. Therefore, a glove with non-flattened fibrous lining is needed for household or industrial applications providing increased comfort level with respect to sweat management within a glove.